Author of Mandatory Vaccination Bill Facing Recall Efforts

Richard Pan, the California state senator whose infamous pro-vaccine bill sailed to victory on the winds of pharmaceutical industry dollars, is now in serious hot water with his constituents.

A major recall effort seeks to remove Sen. Pan from office. If the movement garners enough signatures—which must equal 20% of the total votes cast in the election that Sen. Pan won—then there will be a recall election. If he loses that election, Sen. Pan would not be eligible to run in the follow-up election to fill his seat.

This is not easy. Since 1913, while 158 recalls have been attempted in California, only nine have qualified for the ballot, and only five have succeeded. On the other hand, even a governor has been successfully recalled.

You may recall that this past June, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law SB 277, a bill that would require parents to vaccinate their children in order to send them to public or private school.

Despite tremendous grassroots voter opposition, special interests won the day. We reported that some of the most vocal proponents of SB 277 received funding from Big Pharma. The top recipient of pharmaceutical donations, coming in at more than $95,000, was Sen. Richard Pan—one of the principle authors of the bill.

SB 277’s approval is a major setback, not just for Californians, but for concerned parents across the country. The California bill will no doubt embolden other state legislatures to similarly kowtow to the vaccine industry and remove non-medical vaccine exemptions.

In addition to the recall, Californians have initiated a referendum to overturn SB 277 entirelyusing California’s referendum system to overturn the law. Remember the quote widely attributed to Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”